This Is The Last Hour

[Christsfreeservant]

“Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.” (1 John 2:18-25 NASB1995)​

Who or what is the “antichrist”? Well, “anti” means to be against and to be opposed to someone or something. In this case it is speaking of being against and opposed to Jesus Christ, which includes being against and opposed to his gospel message which he taught and that his New Testament apostles taught, in the correct biblical context. For we can be for the name of Jesus and for what we believe he is offering us in the way of forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life with him, and still be against him.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

Therefore, to be antichrist can include a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, and a belief that all your sins are forgiven, and that heaven is your eternal destiny. How so? You are antichrist if your profession of faith does not include you denying self, dying to sin (not just once, but daily), and walking in obedience to the Lord and to his commandments (New Covenant), in practice, by the Spirit, because of God’s grace, and in the power of God, and if sin is still your practice, and not obedience to God and to his commands.

And this is NOT saying that you must live an absolutely perfect life in every respect or BAM! You are out! For all of us who are in Christ, by faith in Jesus Christ, are still works in progress. We are still clay in the hands of the Potter (God) being molded into the likeness of character of our Lord Jesus, as we cooperate fully with God and with his work of grace in our lives in yielding to his control and in obeying his commands. But if sin is still our practice, and not obedience to God, we will not inherit eternal life with God. Believe God!

So, when this says here that “they went out from us,” this is not speaking of a mere physical departure from any particular “church” gathering. This has to do with them departing from the faith as Jesus and as his New Testament apostles taught it, and then following after a diluted and altered “gospel” in its place. For the church is not a building or a denomination but it is the people of God who are his by genuine biblical faith which results in us dying to sin, being reborn of the Spirit, and walking in obedience to our Lord.

Therefore, there are many people today sitting in chairs or pews in “church” gatherings who are antichrist, for their faith is lip service only (superficial), and their lives are not surrendered to the Lord in dying with Christ to sin and in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands, as empowered by God. And some of them are the pastors, deacons, and elders of such “church” congregations. And then there are some true followers of Christ who have departed from these institutional (partnered with the government/world) “churches,” in obedience to the Lord, who are being chided for departing.

[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22; Revelation 18:1-5]

So, making a verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ does not make you a Christian unless, by God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in the Lord Jesus you deny the self-life and you now die to sin and you obey God, in practice, in the power of God, by the grace of God. So please be aware that many who are antichrist are those who give lip service to the Lord but by their lifestyles they deny him as Lord. And many of them are in positions of enormous power, respect, and admiration among the people and within the gatherings of “the church.” So be those who test the spirits, please!

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2-3]

My Sheep

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…

They know my voice, so they follow me.

This Is The Last Hour
An Original Work / September 25, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love